


your heart's still beating

by Lise



Series: Remember This Cold [42]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Dysfunctional Family, Feelings, Gen, Loki Feels, Odin's B+ Parenting, Post-Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), Protective Thor, Thor Feels, but also not that dysfunctional?, nothing actually happens in this fic but shhh, that's what happens in this fic, this isn't so much sad fic as melancholy fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-23
Updated: 2016-03-23
Packaged: 2018-05-28 16:35:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6336757
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lise/pseuds/Lise
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the Ultron mess, and the secrets that emerged in its wake, Thor takes on the task of sharing the bad news (the Thanos news). And struggles to cope with the implications of the bad news.</p>
            </blockquote>





	your heart's still beating

**Author's Note:**

> I have had the desire to write more Thor POV in this verse for a long while, and this one seemed important enough to get its own fic. 
> 
> I feel the need to add a brief disclaimer on this fic, because I know there’s a danger of it being misread, and if I can catch that before I get angry reviews that’s cool. In brief: Thor has a lot of self-recrimination in this fic. I do not necessarily endorse it. While I don’t think that Thor is entirely blameless in the disaster that is the Odinson siblings, I also think Thor takes on a lot of responsibility that isn’t really his, and carries a lot of guilt that he doesn’t need to. There, disclaimer over.
> 
> Betaing credit goes to the usual [suspect](http://ameliarating.tumblr.com). Love goes to all the people who continue to indulge my neverending expansion of this verse (one fic, she said, back in 2012, _just a little oneshot, go on_. Don't write fic, kids).

Thor told Steve, in brief, what Loki had told him. He watched Loki on the couch staring straight ahead, eyes blank and almost terrifyingly still. He was no longer shaking, but Thor was not so certain that this quiet was better.

“God,” Steve said quietly, rubbing a hand over his mouth. “I didn’t know anything about this-”

“It seems no one did,” Thor said heavily. “Save Loki, and this…Titan.” He did not think he believed Loki’s fear that speaking Thanos’ name would draw his attention, but nonetheless he thought it better to respect his wishes, at least within hearing. Thor’s fists clenched, remembering how Loki had sounded, fearful, terrified. In truth, it disquieted him more than he wanted to say. Whatever he might have said as a youth, Loki was no coward.

Steve looked toward Loki, his expression pained. “The others…they need to know,” he said, sounding reluctant. Thor put a hand on his shoulder.

“I will go,” he said. “Tell them. You should stay here. Loki needs you.” After I did this, Thor thought, looking at his brother’s hunched shoulders and knowing that was not entirely true - this was an old wound. But he had prised it back open, all because he had been too foolish, too angry and stubborn to push as he should have done, to see all the ways in which Loki’s sparse account of his missing year was full of holes.

“Thor…” Steve was frowning. “I know it probably doesn’t help. But you didn’t do anything wrong.”

Thor shook his head. “That is not entirely true,” he said, and gave Steve’s shoulder a squeeze before pulling his hand away. He summoned a smile. “I know I do not need to tell you. But you will take care of him? I will…I need to go to Asgard. I do not know when I will be able to return. I fear some trouble may be brewing there.”

“I’ll take care of him,” Steve said. “And Thor - if you need help, don’t think twice about calling us. All right? We’ll be there for you.”

“Thank you, my friend,” Thor said. He looked toward Loki, and after a long moment walked back over to sit beside him. “Loki,” he said, keeping his voice quiet. “I am going to Asgard. I must…bring them these tidings. Of…the Titan.” He paused, and added, “and of you.” Loki twitched, and Thor felt his body tense. “Our parents deserve to know,” he said, and added, “should know.” He was not about to forget that he was not the only one who had neglected to examine Loki’s actions close enough, who had refused to ask the right questions. If anyone should have known-

But that was a conversation he would have with his father.

“I cannot stop you.” Loki sounded weary. Thor sighed, but decided not to try to argue. He put an arm around Loki’s shoulders instead, pulling him into his side.

“Have faith, brother,” he said. Have faith in me. “Do not think…please remember that you are not alone. Not anymore. And if you call me…should it be possible, I will come to you.”

“Ah, Thor,” Loki said, almost a sigh, but no more than that. He stood, after a long moment, and left the room. Steve would offer comfort that Loki would never accept from Thor.

In the hallway, he raised a hand to lash out, checked himself, and simply rested his fist against the wall, leaning his weight into it with his head bowed. He had been so angry to learn that Loki had been keeping secrets from him - vital secrets, secrets that might make the difference between life and death - and yet now that he had them Thor missed his ignorance. A year, he thought. A year that Loki had been lost. How much of that time had he spent as Thanos’s - guest?

 _He did not hurt me_ , Loki had said. _He would not lower himself to dirty his hands with something like me. That was for others, and when he came it was to speak reasonably and offer shallow kindness, but I was too weak to resist._ Thor’s stomach clenched. Loki was stubborn and strong and Thanos had broken him. Had taken his brother and drawn out his rage and hate and torn away everything else, made Loki his pawn, and Thor wondered what would have become of his brother if he had been victorious in claiming Midgard. How long would he have lived?

Thor closed his eyes, heart pounding in his belly. _Ah, Loki,_ he thought. _Why could you not tell me? If you had but said…_

But that was Loki. Always keeping his hurts hidden and close and those who might help him at arm’s length. Thor had not understood it when they were children; he understood a little better now.

“JARVIS?” He said at length, straightening and setting his shoulders. “Would you call the others together? Inform them that I have news to share.”

* * *

“Is this the part where you explain why you’ve been so damn moody the last week?” Tony asked before he was even through the door, voice breezy though to Thor’s eye he looked weary. “And are you done now?” Thor didn’t answer him, just waited. Tony sat down. “This is why I’m always late to meetings,” he muttered, pulling something out of his pocket and toying with it.

The others trickled in one at a time, including, Thor was pleased to see, the Vision. He nodded to Thor and sat without a word. He waited until they were all gathered - except Bruce, he noted with some disappointment - and then stood.

“Friends,” he said, “I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news. It seems we cannot bask in our victory for long.” 

“Who’s basking,” Clint muttered. Thor decided to pretend he hadn’t heard.

“There is another enemy,” he said. “Who has been playing us, playing with us, from a distance.” Thor hesitated, wondering if he could leave his source vague - but no. They would know sooner or later; better that he be the one to tell them now. “Loki has given me his name. Thanos, sometimes called the Mad Titan. According to Loki, he seeks the six Infinity Stones - four of which have appeared in the last few years. The Tesseract, Loki’s scepter, the Aether - and apparently the Power Stone as well.” His teammates stared at him in apparent incomprehension, and Thor felt a touch of irritation.

“All right, I’ll bite,” Natasha said, leaning forward. “What does he want with these Infinity Stones? Power, sure, but what else?”

“Loki says that he wishes only to destroy,” Thor said. “He thinks of Death as a lady to be wooed. And would offer whole worlds, whole  _Realms,_ to that end.” 

“He is insane,” said Pietro Maximoff, who seemed to be glowering at the room at large. 

“That doesn’t mean he’s not dangerous,” Clint said. “Though okay, I’ve got an obvious question - how does  _Loki_ know any of this?”

Thor looked down at the table. “I have long wondered,” he said, “who it was that gave Loki command of the Chitauri. Where he found the scepter which used power not his own.” Thor tried not to clench his fists. “The answer to both questions is the same. It seems Loki - after his fall from Asgard, Thanos found him.”

The silence was deafening. Wanda Maximoff, Thor noticed, was studying her hands intently; she alone looked pale but unsurprised. Thor wondered with a lurch what she had seen in Loki’s mind.

“Thor,” Natasha said slowly, “you’re implying that Loki was…coerced. Into attacking Earth. Is that right?” 

Thor hesitated. “Not exactly,” he said. “And I suspect he would argue – vehemently - against such a statement. But Thanos - I remember little, but he was a shadowy figure of legend in Asgard’s stories. Seldom spoken of.” He paused, and shook himself. “But that is not - the subject of this meeting. I must go to Asgard, to search our records and inform my father to be watchful. I do not know how soon an attack may come, or what form it may take. But I do not doubt that it will come.”

“And in the meantime?” The Maximoff brother’s voice was sharp. “What is to be done about this - bogeyman?” 

“Prepare,” Thor said simply. “Be watchful. Be alert. I will hopefully be able to return before too long.”

“Loki’s information,” Natasha said. “How sure are you that it’s good?”

Thor thought of Loki, shaking, the words spilling almost frantically from his tongue. “Very sure,” he said. Clint rubbed his mouth like he had bitten into something foul, and a frown was etched between Tony’s eyebrows. “I will be in my room gathering what I need,” Thor said. “Should anyone wish to speak further.”

He turned and left the room.

He paused down the hall to gather himself once again. A part of him had wanted to push harder, to insist they acknowledge Loki’s hurt - but Loki would not want that, and he knew at least some of his friends would only argue.

He heard quiet footfalls and turned to see the Maximoff witch. Her chin raised in defiance when she met his eyes, but her voice was quiet. “Your brother. Is he all right?”

Thor stiffened. “He is well enough,” he said - the only answer Loki would want him to give. Her expression flickered.

“I saw him,” she said suddenly. “I think. This being that you described. Thanos.” Thor felt a chill and said nothing as her eyes turned inward and she shuddered. “Even at a remove…” She trailed off. “He is very afraid, your brother.” 

Thor frowned at her. “You should know that Loki treasures his privacy,” he said, not quite sharply. “Even I know very little of what he is thinking.”

The witch glanced away. “I do not mean to pry. I only wanted to ask if he was all right.”

Thor studied her, but she seemed…genuinely concerned. He did not know anything about her or her brother, but Steve had deemed them worthy of trust, it seemed. “He will be,” Thor said at length. “Loki is strong. Resilient.” Thor only wished that resilience was not tested quite so often. “If you would excuse me…?”

“Yes,” she said. “Of course. Go.”

Thor left her behind, only hoping he was right: that Loki would be fine.

* * *

Volstagg met him on the Bifrost, smile dying as he looked at Thor’s face. “Thor?” He said, sounding uncertain.

“I’m afraid I do not come with good news,” Thor said, though he tried to summon a smile. “Even if it is always good to see you, my friend. Where are the others?”

“All but Hogun are on Asgard,” Volstagg said quickly. “And he will travel from Vanaheim at a word from you.” Thor felt a pang of guilt.  _What have I done, lately, to earn such loyalty?_ _“_ Your tidings…I suppose you need to speak to the All-Father?”

Thor bowed his head in assent. “Yes. I will. But afterwards I will share them with you - all of you - as well.” Volstagg nodded, then hesitated, a little awkwardly.

“Is…” He lowered his voice, glancing around them. “How does Loki fare?” 

 _You should be able to ask that without it being a whisper,_ Thor thought, the faded anger flaring up again, though he could not truly blame Volstagg. “He is,” Thor said, about to give the familiar non-answer (lie), but he stopped. Volstagg was a friend. Thor sighed and closed his eyes. “He has been better,” he said, chest aching as he remembered the feeling of Loki’s shoulders trembling under his hands. “But Captain Rogers will look after him.”

Volstagg relaxed visibly. “So this news of yours - it isn’t about him.”

Thor wondered what kind of news his friend had been expecting. “Not precisely,” he said carefully. “It…involves him. But Loki himself is not…” He sighed. “Can this wait? I do not wish to explain more than I must.”

“Of course,” Volstagg said quickly, though he looked worried. “I will ask Hogun to come, and see to it that - whenever you wish to share your news, Thor.”

Thor nodded, already feeling weary, and he had not even had to speak with his father yet. Of late Asgard gave him that feeling - like there was a great weight pressing down on his shoulders every time he set foot at home. He did not look forward to confronting Odin. Since Loki’s trial, his conversations with his father had been brief and formal, but with the anger seething in his chest Thor did not think this could be the same.

( _How could you not know? Why did you not_ ask? _)_

“Thank you,” Thor said to Volstagg, who did not deserve the live edge of his mood. “I must go. My tidings…the All-Father needs to hear them.” 

“Go well,” Volstagg said. Thor spun Mjolnir and took off without answering.

* * *

Thor found Odin in his study, not alone. “Father,” he said loudly. “I need to speak with you. In private.”

His father looked up slowly, his face an unreadable mask. “Can it wait?”

“No,” Thor said flatly. “It cannot.”

Odin looked at him for a long while before he made a gesture to his advisors. “Go,” he said. “My son clearly has something important to say.” They shuffled out the door. Thor waited until they were gone, flexing his hand open and closed and trying not to grind his teeth.

The door closed and Thor met his father’s eyes, lifting his chin. “You know that another Infinity Stone appeared on Midgard. In a vision, I saw that a fourth has emerged as well.”

“I am aware.” His father sounded ever so slightly impatient. “It is strange, but I could see no pattern in it. I take it you do?”

Thor did not bother to blunt his words. “It is Thanos.”

He was not sure what response he had expected from his father, but it was not…nothing. Which was more or less what he got. Oh, Odin was slightly stiller, for a moment, sat slightly straighter - but then he shook his head. “Impossible.”

“You said it was impossible that the Dark Elves would rise again,” Thor said, not gently. “Forgive me if I doubt you in this. I am certain of it.  Thanos is alive, and he moves, seeking the Infinity Stones and the Infinity Gauntlet.” 

Odin sat down and folded his hands on his desk. “And whence comes this information, my son, that you are so sure of it? Your vision - from the Norns, I assume? They are not always to be trusted blindly.”

“From Loki,” he said. Waiting. Hoping, he realized, though he was not sure for what. Anything - anger, sorrow, horror. The All-Father’s face remained impassive. 

“Loki,” he echoed, voice unreadable, and for a moment Thor couldn’t breathe for his fury, slow burning in embers since his father had stripped Loki of everything and cast him out, since his father had made Loki kneel before all of Asgard and accept his own disgrace, perhaps even longer, since his father (he) had failed to keep Loki from falling. 

He closed the distance and slammed his hands on Odin’s desk hard enough to rattle the items on it. “Yes,  _Loki,_ _”_ he said, voice rising. “And can you imagine _why_ he might know such a thing?” He paused, but only for a breath. “Perhaps because when Loki fell into the void it was  _Thanos_ who found him. Who _rescued_ him - that’s how Loki puts it. It was  _Thanos_  who let his lackeys  _torture_ him so he could appear as a  _benevolent rescuer._ A safe haven. It was  _Thanos_ who broke Loki’s will, tore him apart so that he could use him for his purposes. _He_  put the scepter containing the Mind Stone in Loki’s hands and sent him to fetch the Tesseract like a retrieving hound.” He leaned forward, almost yelling. “Did you ask  _once?_ Did you  _ever_ try to find out what had happened to him? Or were you content to cast him away and  _forget_ about him?”

He stopped, breathing hard. The All-Father had not moved. He seemed to be looking straight through Thor, like he wasn’t hearing a word Thor said.

Thor raised his voice. “Are you hearing me, father? Do you understand what I am saying? Loki was with this - this  _monster_ for perhaps a year. Loki feared to even speak his  _name_ to me, the mere thought, the mere  _memory_ of Thanos’ _care_ enough to undo him.” He knew Loki would hate his speaking this, but in the moment he wanted his father to understand, wanted his father to  _see_ Loki’s hurt and  _acknowledge_ it.  _Needed_ him to, because he had begun to think he did not recognize the father he had known and loved in this hard stranger.

“I have seen Loki wounded beyond endurance and pushed past despair without breaking. And this Titan, this  _Thanos -_ Loki will not speak of it, and I _dread_ to imagine what he might have done to make Loki into what he was when I found him on Midgard. What he has only  _just_ begun to heal from. And now-”

Odin’s chair scraped back as he stood, still silent. Thor’s voice trailed off, staring at him with defiance.  _Explain to me,_ he thought, almost pleading.  _And then we can fight this. Together._

But his father said nothing. He turned and walked past Thor and out of the room, closing the door behind him. Thor gaped, poleaxed, and then wheeled, yanking the door back open. “Do not-”

The hall was empty. Thor fell still, stunned - more than that,  _baffled._ No reaction,  _none at all,_ and he  _knew_ his father loved Loki (or had, once) but to hear what had been done to him and leave without a word…

Thor realized that he could smell something odd, like burning. He turned back to the desk and looked down at it. He could see the imprint of hands, burned into the wood.

 _Oh,_ Thor thought. His chest ached, briefly.  _Oh, father._

* * *

Thor kept his explanation to his friends spare and simple: the danger facing Asgard and Loki’s role in it. He could see that there were questions they wished to ask - Fandral got so far as to open his mouth, eyebrows furrowed, before Hogun laid a hand on his arm and he closed it. 

All of them left in silence when Thor told them he needed to seek out his mother (and oh, he dreaded trying to tell her), except for Sif, who stayed, her expression troubled. 

“Thor,” she began, and stopped. “Loki,” she said, but that trailed off too. Thor looked at her, waiting. Things between them had been - stranger than he would have liked, since the trial. Since he had accused her of wanting Loki dead, an accusation he knew now had wounded her deeply.  _He was my friend, too,_ she had shouted at him.  _I thought of him like a brother. That I am angry, that I want to protect you, does not mean I want him to_ die.

Thor sat down. “Sif,” he said, and then waited. She exhaled loudly, and put her face in her hands. 

“I am sorry,” she said. “This is dire news, isn’t it? Very much so.”

“It is,” Thor said heavily. “Or at least, it seems so. And Loki…” Thor closed his eyes, shoulders bowing. “Sif - I have never seen him so afraid. And I do not think - I do not think he believes that we can defeat this Titan.” 

Sif rubbed her eyes and then met Thor’s, her expression troubled. “Do you?” 

Thor looked down. “I must.” In some secret part of his heart, though, there was doubt. According to legend, it had taken the Nine Realms united to defeat Thanos before, but they were fractured now. The Dark Elves were gone, the Jotnar struggling just to survive. Midgard warred with itself constantly, and Asgard itself saw unrest. How could they hope to muster sufficient force?

Sif reached out and laid a hand on his fist clenched on the table. “You know we stand with you. And Asgard will as well. Your friends are no fainthearts, and Loki…”

Thor closed his eyes. “It is Loki I fear for most of all,” he said. “Is that…that is not right of me, I know. But he has - always been prone to despair, and too often it spurs him to recklessness. I fear…I do not know.” Thor pressed his lips together, thinking of how Loki had reacted when it had seemed Steve was dead. “He decides so quickly that he must do things alone.”

Sif’s lips twisted. “He is too proud,” she said. Thor gave her a sharp look, and she frowned at him. “You know it. Loki has always resented asking for help from anyone.”

“You are the same,” Thor said, a little defensively. 

“I did not claim to be immune,” Sif said, with some sharpness of her own. “I only mean…” She trailed off, and glanced away. “I only mean that I would fear the same,” she said, at length. “And not only of him.” She gave Thor a pointed look. He shook his head. 

“I am no longer that boy,” he said. “I know this is not a battle I can fight alone - even if a part of me wishes to. To protect my friends, and also…”  _To avenge Loki._ He left that unsaid. Sif withdrew her hand slowly. 

“If he was a prisoner of this being,” she said, “does that mean his actions on Midgard…?” 

“He claims they were his own,” Thor said, and laughed, humorlessly. “Though I am not certain he would not say the same even if it were not. I suspect that - the truth is complicated.” 

“Most things with Loki are,” Sif said, but though Thor glanced at her, it did not sound like it was meant unkindly, exactly. She looked down, and murmured, “Norns.” 

“What?” He asked. Sif shook her head. 

“Nothing. Only - of all the places to fall to.” Her lips twisted. “I do not envy Loki’s luck.” She glanced at him. 

“And yet,” Thor said quietly, “Loki says that Thanos saved him. And I must wonder - if he had not fallen there, then where?” For all the grief, Thor thought, he had never wished to go back to that time after Loki had fallen. When he had first known what it was to mourn, when he had felt as though his heart had been ripped out of his chest. “But that is selfish. I know it.” Some part of him wondered briefly  _and what if it had been Midgard? What if Loki had found his way there instead?_

“Thor,” Sif said, “it does no good to speculate on what might have been. The Norns weave as they wish.” 

“And I can wish that they wove otherwise,” Thor countered, but he shook his head. “I know, I know.” 

Sif opened her mouth, eyebrows furrowed, but behind his back Thor heard, “why did I have to hear of my son’s homecoming from one of the Einherjar, rather than from my son himself?”

Sif scrambled to her feet. “All-Mother,” she said, bowing, and Thor turned. His mother’s expression was relatively calm, which didn’t make him want to wince any less.

“Be at ease, Lady Sif,” his mother said coolly. “I do not hold you at fault.”

Thor did wince, at that. “Mother, I intended to come to you-”

“But instead,” she said, “you spoke to your father and your friends before so much as telling me that you were here?” 

In truth, Thor had been putting it off. Confronting his father was one thing. Telling his friends another. But speaking with his mother, telling her something he knew would only cause her pain… “I am sorry,” he said weakly. “I should have gone to you.”

“You should have.” Sif looked anxious, and Frigga gestured toward the door. “You may go, Lady Sif.” 

“All-Mother,” Sif said, bowing again, and hurried out. Thor looked down and tried not to fidget.

“Do I not even merit an embrace?” His mother asked, something faintly dry to her voice. Thor scrambled to his feet, then, and hugged her tightly - relieved, in truth. He might be taller than her now, but there was still something about her that brought back the feeling of being a child, and just now that feeling was comforting. 

“I am sorry,” Thor mumbled. Frigga’s arms encircled him and rubbed his back. 

“You are already forgiven. I am given to understand that your errand here  _was_ urgent.” There was a question in her words, but Thor dodged it. 

“It was,” he said. drawing back only to clasp her hands in his. “But that does not mean I am not glad to see you.”

His mother’s brows furrowed. “And now you worry me again, as it seems you do not wish to share these urgent tidings with me. Heimdall told us there was some…difficulty, on Midgard, but that it had been resolved. Is that not so?”

 _Difficulty,_ Thor thought, a little sourly, but he brushed that aside. Now was not the time to address, again, the question of Midgard’s importance. “No,” he said. “It has been resolved. All of my companions are unharmed.”

“But,” Frigga prompted. He hesitated, and her hands squeezed Thor’s. “After all these years, Thor. Could you really think me fragile?” 

 _I think you have grieved enough, and suffered enough pain._ He dropped his eyes to their joined hands. “Thanos returns.”

His mother’s eyes widened. “What?”

“Or - seeks to return,” Thor amended hastily. “Seeks the Infinity Stones, and perhaps the Gauntlet as well. He yet remains beyond the Realms, but he moves.”

Frigga drew a deep breath and in the fraction of a second before she gathered herself, Thor caught the flicker of fear through her eyes. “Then there is still time to prepare,” she said, and exhaled, shaking her head. “Urgent tidings indeed. By the Nine! It was believed he was dead.”

"Apparently not,” Thor said. Frigga went quiet, and he could see her thinking. After a long moment she closed her eyes and bowed her head. 

“I do not think I need to ask how you know this,” she said quietly. 

The Norns, Thor thought to say, but the lie died on his tongue. The Norns had shown him the pattern, and that a shadow was moving. Loki had given the shadow name. “Mother,” he said, and stopped. 

Frigga pressed her lips together, and for a moment Thor thought she was about to weep. By now Thor was too familiar with his mother’s grief. “Oh, Loki,” he heard her murmur.

“He told me,” Thor said, the words spilling out of him, though differently than they had with Odin. “Though I had to press. He did not want to - he claimed that speaking his name would draw attention. And when I asked why he had not said - he said that it would have made no difference. But how can he know that is true? It might have made all the difference, if Father knew, if  _I_ had known-”

“Beloved,” his mother said, hands squeezing his, “do not.” 

“Do not what?” Thor asked, pulling his hands away. “Acknowledge where I failed? I should have seen-”

“Or Loki might have said,” Frigga interrupted. 

“But I did not ask but once and in anger,” Thor said. “And Father did not ask at all!”

“Nor did I,” Frigga said. Her eyes were glistening, wet. “Would you blame me too? Perhaps you should. To hold your father responsible and absolve me entirely is unfair.” She took a step forward and cupped his face, gently. “Thor, my son.”

His eyes prickled dangerously. “I should have known,” he said. “If I had known…but I left him there. I gave him up and I left him there to suffer.”

“Thor,” his mother said. “Look at me.” He met her eyes with difficulty. “You could not have saved Loki,” she said. “You could not have reached him.” Thor closed his eyes, something aching in his chest, tears spilling down his cheeks. “The only one to blame for Loki’s hurts is Thanos.”

Thor shuddered. “I wish,” he began, but he was not sure how to end. There were so many things he wished: that Loki had told him on Midgard what had happened, that Loki had never fallen, that he had seen Loki’s struggle sooner and not thought it a passing mood. 

His mother’s hand moved, clasping the back of his neck. “I know,” she said softly. “So do I.”


End file.
